Take care of the Earth; it’s the only one we’ve got

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

04/22/2010

Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., the principal suspect in the Maguindanao Massacre that claimed at least 57 innocent lives last Nov. 23, 2009, has made his political preferences in the fast approaching polls known to all and sundry.

When he was transferred last week from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) jail to the Philippine National Police’s maximum security facility in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City, Ampatuan was espied by mediamen, who were assigned to cover the event, to be wearing two rubber wristbands colored purple and orange bearing the names of certain candidates that had been embossed on them.

Curious, a television reporter called out to an unmanacled Ampatuan, who was freely moving about awaiting the processing of his papers, from outside the iron-barred reception office of the detention center to get a closer look at the attractive ornaments.

Ampatuan gladly obliged him and in front of the TV cameras and the press photographers and for all the world to see proudly displayed the wristbands that had the names of Nacionalista Party presidential bet Manny Villar and that of his spokesman and NP senatorial candidate Gilbert Remulla emblazoned on them.

Then the very next day, it was reported in several newspapers that Datu Unsay (the young Ampatuan’s clan name) had changed his mind and instead was supporting Liberal Party candidate Sen. Noynoy Aquino.

Unsay’s statements were aired in what the Tribune described as a “bizarre” press conference that obviously was given the green light by detention center officials, and most probably the office of National Capital Region Police Office Boysie Rosales.

Said press conference, where Ampatuan was sporting a yellow t-shirt in honor of his manok Noynoy, did not sit well with Interior Secretary Ronnie Puno due to its serious implications in that any criminal may now be allowed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to give interviews to media for as long as he seeks permission from his jailers. And to stretch the issue further, in the interest of parity and fair play, detained personalities such as Ariel Querubin and Danny Lim should be granted the privilege to face the media any old time they want, which has been denied them all the years they have been behind bars.

Himself interviewed by media, Puno said the jail official who had given permission for Ampatuan’s press conference, supposedly the first of its kind in the annals of local penology, would definitely have to pay for his “lapse in judgement.”

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Despite assertions by naysayers, hundreds of long-suffering employees of IBC Channel 13 actually acceded, and overwhelmingly at that, to the P1.7-billion project recently finalized between management and a big real estate developer because it promised to rescue the floundering network from certain bankruptcy.

Several union officials tell us that the deal ironed out with Primestate Ventures Inc. was embraced as a “heaven-sent bonanza” that would breathe new life into the bankruptcy-bound television station and down the road would allow them to keep their precious jobs, with overdue benefits and back wages to boot.

IBC, which was part of the Benedicto Group of Companies, was sequestered by the Aquino government through the Presidential Commission on Good Government in 1986 immediately after Edsa l. Owner Roberto Benedicto, who was accused of being a Marcos crony, was obliged in 1992 to turn IBC over to the government in line with a compromise agreement ironed out with the PCGG in order to avoid costly litigation.

In the succeeding years, the PCGG tried its best to liquefy its holdings in IBC but unfortunately found no one who was interested in acquiring a “white elephant” that had a backlog of debts to employees and creditors totaling some P650 million and was incurring operating losses of some P80 million annually.

Thus, when Primestate came up with its unsolicited proposal to develop IBC’s four-hectare property in Balara, Quezon City where sits the Broadcast City complex, there was no hesitation on the part of the PCGG caretakers to take them up on the offer because this was the fastest solution to the bankruptcy problem which they had been wracking their brains over all these years.

Under the agreement, the developer will transform Broadcast City, which currently houses Channel 9 and Channel 13, into a mixed commercial and residential establishment whose main feature will be the sparkling, state-of-the-art six-story IBC Building that would be tailor-made for television operations (which is IBC’s core business) with office spaces, modern studios and complementary amenities sufficient to accommodate at least two networks.

Apart from this, a cash component of P278 million has been allocated for the settlement of arrears of employee benefits, pursuant to a memorandum of agreement signed recently; and while the project hasn’t yet taken off, IBC has also been assured of P275 million income spread over six years.

For their real estate property, IBC stands to receive a guaranteed P728 million or roughly P20,000 per sq. m., which is far superior to the P10,000 per sq. m. appraisal of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Quezon City government, as well as the P11,000 per sq. m. of an independent appraiser.

Transparency issues had also been adequately addressed as the joint venture agreement was subjected to fine-toothed comb by PCGG lawyers, the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel and the National Economic Development Authority.

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Today, April 22, is Earth Day. All the world over, people from more than 140 countries will be congregating to firm up their commitment to take better care of the environment and to support the global initiative to counter climate change.

By now, millions are aware of the phenomenon called “global warming” and its calamitous and injurious effects on mankind. Observance of Earth Day is one way of underscoring the importance of fighting this great peril while it is still possible.

Earth Day is supposed to have been started 40 years ago in 1970 by United States Sen. Gaylord Nelson who had wanted to raise awareness for the environment and awaken his fellow Americans to the need for greater environmental protection, for the sake of succeeding generations.

Here’s the rub: We have got to take good care of our Earth. It’s the only one we’ve got.

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